Email, instant messaging, text messaging, as well as other communications systems that exist today have converged to leave consumers of the technologies with less control of when and how they are communicated with. One person attempting to contact another has the ability to initiate communications through phone, voice over IP, instant message, short message service (SMS, i.e., text messaging), email etc. The mode of communication is at the option of the person initiating the communication. As such, the person initiating the communication has the ability to utilize his preferred method of communication.
While a person initiating a communication has the ability to choose the device to be used for the communication, the selected communication device may not be the receiver's preferred means of communication. For example, one person may prefer to conduct communication via email and may, therefore, send an email to a recipient. The recipient may, by contrast, find email to be inconvenient, often requiring a protracted exchange of multiple emails to conclude a relatively simple matter. The recipient may prefer to use voice communication, such as the telephone, so that the matter can be quickly and fully addressed in a single exchange. While the recipient can tell others that he wishes to be contacted by telephone, the ultimate decision of how the communication will be carried out is up to the person initiating the communication.
Being on the receiving end of so many communication devices, may leave a person with very little control over how people contact him. So if he prefers to conduct most communications via voice or email and prefers that instant messages should only be used for casual communications he is not able to express this to all the people who wish to contact him. Furthermore, even for those people that he has informed of his preference, a person receiving a communication has no way to force others to honor his preferred methods of communication. The situation may be further complicated in that the person's preferred means of communication may differ throughout the week, at different times of the day, and even for different people.